From parties to pandemic, event production company owner shares what it took to save his business

This paid piece is sponsored by The First National Bank in Sioux Falls.

There are lots of paths to business ownership – and in this case, it took getting married.

That’s how Chris Hintz realized he could help fill a void in event entertainment after going through planning his own wedding.

In 2002, when he started Pinnacle Productions, that meant taking on DJ gigs.

In 2020, that meant surviving in business as his entire industry went through upheaval.

“I remember explicitly driving down 10th Street on the east side of Sioux Falls, and I had just gotten a call from a bride who said they were canceling their wedding, and two seconds before that I had just gotten a phone call from one of our corporate event partners who was canceling two events that weekend,” he recalled.

But, with a lot of work, innovation and the right partners, he made it through and is positioned for even bigger things ahead.

How did he do it? We asked him.

OK, first, let’s rewind. The DJ thing. Did you have any particularly memorable wedding experiences when you were starting out?

Requests have always caused some pretty memorable experiences. In 2005, “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood was a No. 1 song for a large share of the year. Guests at weddings love to request music but would request songs that are not appropriate for a wedding. Once I was playing a wedding in Mitchell, and when I told the requester that I wouldn’t play her song, she was less than happy. I just feel like the music you choose NOT to play at an event can be as powerful as the songs you do play. Creating a soundtrack for a great night means filtering SOME of the requests and suggestions.

Just curious: Was there a much-requested song from those early days in the 2000s you’d be fine never hearing again?

Honestly, if I never heard “Picture” by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow, I’d be completely content. What a terrible song.

So wedding season is coming up. Can we get a little expert advice from you too? Biggest do’s and don’ts when it comes to the entertainment?

What a great question. Biggest do’s: Go in with some direction. Even if it’s what you DON’T want, that’s better than saying we all just want to have fun. Fun means different things to different people, and we’re focused on what is FUN for you and your fiance. Do be creative, and help us create something unique for you and your wedding. Don’t regurgitate what everyone else has done. Be you! Be unique!

Great. So back to the pandemic. What’s the first thing you did when you realized basically your whole business plan for the year was falling apart?

I called my banker. Seriously. I called Scott Speer at The First National Bank. And in the truck, I heard Scott say on the Bluetooth speaker, “Chris, we’re not just your partner in good times, we’re your partner in bad. We see what’s going on, and it’s not in your control. We’re here for you; we’re your partner.” I know banking isn’t the most emotional thing, but to me – someone who was losing (potentially) their business and saw 50 percent of their total year of revenue evaporate – it was the most poetic thing I’d ever heard.

So that made you feel better. But you still needed revenue, right?

Right, and that’s where the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was the lifeline the business needed, with government-guaranteed, forgivable loans to small businesses hit hard by the pandemic.

Again, working with FNB, they helped guide us through the process.

I can’t talk about it much without getting emotional because this is my baby and we built it from nothing. I took a loan out of my 401(k) when I was 27, 28 years old for $2,000, and I spent it with a couple mouse clicks online to buy our first set of speakers and professional gear. So we bootstrapped this from $2,000 with no help from anyone to a seven-figure company with 40 employees that does events all over the world. If it wasn’t for this PPP funding, Pinnacle wouldn’t be here.

But we’re guessing you didn’t just rely on that to get by. How did you innovate within the business?

We transformed the business model from producing in-person events to producing virtual events.

We invested a ton of time and a lot of PPP funding to train into a more sustainable revenue stream for the short term. We already had a division that does video and films. We shifted that towards the virtual event space too. How can we set up really good cameras, really good lighting? We had a lot of those disciplines, but we were shifting all of our focus to where people were meeting. People were not meeting in person anymore; they were meeting online.

Fast-forward to 2021. How is the year shaping up? Are people starting to talk about in-person events?

Well, 2021 thus far has been promising. From the cultivation of the connections made during and pre-pandemic, we’ve developed some incredible skills that our clients have definitely benefited from. Learning the virtual realm of events and producing high-quality virtual and hybrid events has helped us tremendously thus far into 2021. Wedding inquiries are way up from a year ago, and we’re seeing several couples from surrounding states move their weddings to South Dakota because they can host their events.

We’re seeing our first few large in-person events start to happen, and the consensus is Q3 for a larger-scale return to in person, which we’re all very grateful for!

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in the last year?

We’ve got an incredibly talented and diverse team. We’ve made so many moves and changes in direction – I’m over the word “pivot” – focusing on the needs of our customers that I’m confident we’ll continue to evolve with what the new “normal” in events will bring. Another incredibly fortunate lesson was that our partnerships are strong, and it’s great to have a bank that believes in the challenges and opportunities we can create because of that symbiotic relationship.

And finally, where do you see your business heading? What’s next for Pinnacle?

With the absence of live events for the past year, I see the event industry roaring back to large-scale events. We feel like we’re at the Pinnacle of those production needs – pun intended – and with the experiences we’ve help to create and the friendships we’ve forged, we’re excited to produce the next gen of experiences in the event space. We’re looking to expand and explore the possibilities!

The First National Bank in Sioux Falls has been proud to partner with Pinnacle and other small business not just in 2020 but for 135 years. If you would like to learn more about business banking at FNB, visit our website or contact us today!